Success Advice

5 Reasons Why Starting Small is the Key to Success

Published

3 years ago

Nov 8, 2020

Shawn Lim

Image Credit: Unsplash

“The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” This is one of the famous quotes from Confucius. And the success principle within this line explains how anyone can achieve anything they want if they are willing to put in small and consistent effort.

You may have heard of the best-selling book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” written by Dale Carnegie. But do you know that the book started as a set of rules printed on a card no larger than a postcard?

Carnegie prepared a short talk where he called it ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People.’ The short talk was well-received and was then evolved into a course. And he needed teaching materials for the course. And so, Carnegie wrote down the rules for his course on a card and delivered it to his fellow students.

And in the next season, he printed the rules on a larger card, then a leaflet, then a series of booklets, with each version expanding in size and scope.

After 15 years of teaching, research, and experimentation, he compiled his rules for his course and became the book, How to Win Friends and Influence People. That was how the best-selling book was written. One step at a time.

Remember how Apple started? It began with Steve Jobs and his friend Steve Wozniak launching their tech giant in Job’s garage. The same went for Amazon. Jeff Bezos and his team started Amazon selling only books. But Bezos had a big dream and today, Amazon is a multi billion-dollar company.

As you can see, everything started small. Every big success you have heard of started as a series of small steps.

Therefore, the key to success is to start small. Below are the 5 reasons why you want to commit to taking baby steps:

1. It takes less time and energy

It is always easier to start small. Think about it, do you think it is easier to write a 300-page book or it is easier to write just 1,000 words a day? Of course, the answer is obvious. And because it is easier to start small, your resistance to doing the work will be lowered. You don’t need too much motivation or willpower to get small things done.

This is why it is so vital to focus on small victories. If you do only 5 small things a day, you will have accomplished 5 small wins. In a week, you will have produced 35 little wins. In a month, you will have 150 small wins. And within a year, you will have accomplished 1,825 small victories.

Do you think these small victories will accumulate and make a huge impact on your life? You better they will.

“It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.” – John Wooden

2. It prevents overwhelming

Another key reason you want to start small is that it prevents overwhelm. You see, one of the main reasons people procrastinate and put things off until a later time is because of the pain of doing the work.

They feel overwhelmed to do the work. They feel the pain. And hence, they choose to procrastinate and delay the work. However, when things are easy to do, you won’t feel overwhelmed by them. Again, it is easier to commit to writing just 1,000 words a day than to complete an entire 300 page book.

It is your psychology that is in play. When you look at the entire project, you feel like you need to spend a lot of time and energy to do it. But when you break down the project into small actionable steps, you can tackle one small step at a time.

You have to understand that every big thing once started small. When you try to do everything all at once, you feel powerless and overwhelmed by the scale of the work involved.

3. It grows your confidence and motivation

Imagine you have goals to pursue and you know what you need to do today to make progress, but you don’t do anything. By the end of the day, how will you feel? Guilty and not good, right?

But if you stick to your plan, take action, and make progress, how would you feel at the end of the day? You’d likely feel satisfied and motivated, right? Because you have done something, made progress, and are slowly moving towards your goals.

That’s what taking small steps will do for you. When you make progress, you feel good. It boosts your confidence and motivation level.

Here’s a great quote from Tony Robbins, “People who succeed have momentum. The more they succeed, the more they want to succeed, and the more they find a way to succeed. Similarly, when someone is failing, the tendency is to get on a downward spiral that can even become a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

This is why you want to make sure you are building upward momentum. Take small actions and make progress to build your momentum. The more momentum you gain, the more powerful you become.

4. It gives you the ability to pivot

There is another essential reason to start small – it allows you to pivot. Let me give you an example. Imagine you want to write a weight loss book, but you have no idea what title to write. And so, you start with writing short articles with various titles across the same industry.

And then you notice that one particular article received the most engagements. People share the article, leave comments, and say how much they love it. And you decide to write a book based on the article.

That’s the pivot. You use feedback you get from the small actions you make and then grow it into something bigger. In business, it is called MVP, Minimum Viable Product. You want to quickly test to see if an idea works before you put in your time and money to develop the complete product. When you start small, it allows you to pivot by getting immediate feedback from your actions.

“Be not afraid of going slowly, be afraid only of standing still.” – Chinese Proverb

5. It simply is the first step

Yes, no matter how big or small your goals or the success you want, you simply have to take one small step at a time. You can’t skip steps.

Just like if you want to lose weight through exercise, there is no way you can skip the exercise and get to the result directly. Taking small steps are necessary because there are no shortcuts to success.

Therefore, dream big, and start small. You don’t have to commit to taking big and bold steps, because all you need to do is take one baby step at a time. Be consistent, and eventually, you will arrive at your destination.

Do you believe starting small is the key to success? Share your thoughts with us below!

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Shawn Lim

Shawn Lim is the creator of StunningMotivation.com (https://StunningMotivation.com) and he’s a passionate blogger in the personal development industry who has inspired thousands to pursue their dreams and follow their passions. You can learn more about him plus download a free copy of his guidebook, Reach Your Goals on his website.

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How to Break the Cycles of Mediocrity and Manifest Your Greatness

There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity

Published

3 weeks ago

Nov 16, 2023

Jamelle Sanders

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In just a few weeks, we will be wrapping up 2023. Can you believe it? This year has been absolutely incredible for me.

I have seen amazing doors opened, new relationships formed and I am seeing dreams realized in my life. While this seems like the hallmarks of a great year, this has also been the most challenging year of my life. With all of the change happening in my life, I have been forced out of my comfort zone and challenged to grow in every area of my life.

I can truly say that I have made the most of my moments this year and I have used everything as a catalyst for maximizing my greatest potential.

As a revolutionary leader, I have the pleasure of consulting and advising leaders around the world to fulfill purpose, realize their greatest potential and make an impact.

I want to share some insights with you that will help you to break cycles of mediocrity and manifest your greatness.

Everything legal must come through the matrix

I am sure that some of you are wondering why I am using the term matrix. However, what you have to understand is that I am trying to make a highly complex spiritual principle practical to understand.

Regardless of your spiritual beliefs, every life has an origin and I believe that origin is divine and begins with eternity. You are birthed from eternity and into time to fulfill a unique purpose and assignment in your lifetime and generation.

The matrix is simply the portal or vehicle that brings something out of the invisible realm and into tangible form. The problem with much of the teaching today is that it excludes the matrix. We are told to believe that success is instantaneous and overnight.

Nobody talks about how a dream progresses through stages beginning with visualization and ultimately culminating in manifestation. Without a matrix or portal then everything that you attempt to birth and build will be illegal.

The matrix not only makes you legal but it gives you the authority and power to function as the greatest expression of who you were created to be.

Every matrix has an incubation process

While many people admire and respect me today, I remember a time when nobody knew who I was or the significance of my message. How did I get to where I am today? I got here through an incubation process.

In other words, everything that has been destined for your life is incubating and awaiting a set time of manifestation. The problem is that most people live their entire lives idle and never initiate the incubation process.

What do I meany by that? Most people are living reckless and very few people are living intentionally. I am amazed at the number of people I have conversations with that have no vision, goals or strategies for their lives. They show great promise and they have undeniable potential.

However, without development they will die with their dreams still in them.

Everything that has been destined for your life must be incubated and converted to become realities born to time.

“Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blueprint and begin to build.” – Robert Collier

You must give expression to that which is not yet born to time

When you think about a matrix or a prophetic incubation process, you have to understand that potential is often unrealized and untapped. In other words, your potential is in raw form and your potential cannot serve you as long as it is untapped.

The thing that makes me valuable is that I have the ability to convert potential into power. I have done it in my own life and I have empowered leaders around the world to do the same. How do you convert potential into power?

First, it is important to note that you have to perceive potential. If you cannot perceive your potential then you can never cultivate your potential. In addition, you must take the time to cultivate your potential. We often get excited about our capabilities; however, we never expand our capacity in order to realize our greatest potential.

In other words, the strength of your potential is only discovered through your willingness to stretch. The more we are challenged the more we are empowered to expand our capacity for greatness. Most of all, you must begin to express your potential. The expression of potential is different for every person.

For example, the expression of my potential is best demonstrated through the thoughts, ideas, products, services, books, etc.

For another person the expression of potential may look like a screenplay, artwork, sports, scientific discoveries, medical breakthroughs, etc.

Regardless of the form of expression, I know that you will live empty and unfulfilled until you make the decision to express your potential. The expression of your potential gives voice to your dreams, life to your vision, significance to your moments and activates your true power.

You must manifest your greatness

As a revolutionary thinker and leader, my work has impacted people around the world. I am grateful that my life is a source of empowerment to so many people. However, before anyone could ever benefit from my life, I had to make a non-negotiable decision to become who I was born to be.

I wish I could tell you that this journey is easy and that you will get there overnight. However, in a world that celebrates us for doing we are often criticized for being. As a result, I wasted a lot of time trying to be who other people wanted me to be instead of being who I was born to be.

There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity. It is through our bravery to be vulnerable that we ultimately manifest our greatness. We do not bless the world by being a duplicate. We bless the world when we honor our difference. When you honor your difference you honor your potential.

Ultimately, your difference is how you manifest your greatness.

When you present anything but your authentic self to the world, you are playing small and you are robbing the world of your significance. Manifesting your greatness requires you to master your gifts.